Featured Archive

FC Edmonton coach Colin Miller said that the team’s signing of El Salvadorean midfielder Dustin Corea is about the long-term future of the team.

The team announced the signing of the left-footed attacking midfielder on Thursday. He trained with the team at Clarke Field. He was once part of the American youth set-up, as he was born in California and raised in Portland, Ore. His family still lives in Portland. But, he made the switch to El Salvador, and most recently played for that country at the Gold Cup, where he scored a goal against Costa Rica. Before coming to Edmonton, Corea played a season with El Salvadorean top-division CD FAS, where he scored five times. Because he’s got an American passport, he doesn’t count as an international on the roster

“I think he will give us a variety,” Miller said of Corea. “He can play on the inside, he can play as a number 10. He can play on the right and, of course, with him being left-footed, he can play wide left as well. There’s a variety of options there. He’s a current El Salvador international and did well in the Gold Cup. He scored a goal at the Gold Cup. So he’s an established player. When players like that become available, it appealed for the price that we got him for, it’s fantastic.

“I’m always thinking about the club longer term; should certain players move on and not sign with the club, we have to always think that the club is more important than any one player or even two or three players. So this is as much building for the future for the club, he’s 23, he’s young, he’s hungry to play and happy to be here.”

Since we launched the Quintessential Canadian Power Rankings this spring, which catalogues the minutes played by Canadian players in MLS and NASL, there have been readers who’ve written in asking why we don’t also include USL numbers.

The answer is simple; comparing USL to NASL or MLS is apples to oranges. There are two major reasons for this:

1. The Canadian Soccer Association mandates that six of the starting 11 players on the three Canada-based USL teams be Canadian; NASL and MLS teams don’t operate with those restrictions.2. In USL, Canadian players are considered domestics no matter if they play on teams in Canada or the United States. In NASL and MLS, Canadians are only considered domestics if they sign for Canadian clubs; if they sign for American clubs, they are considered foreigners.

But, don’t say that we don’t occasionally cave to reader pressure! We’ve crunched the numbers as best as we can (please let us know if you notice we’ve missed a player) and evaluated USL minutes.

As expected, the three Canadian teams are well on top. But what’s interesting is that FC Montreal and TFCII are both well ahead of Whitecaps2 when it comes to playing Canadians. By our math, FC Montreal gives Canadians a whopping 950 minutes per game; keep in mind that a “perfect” score would be 990 minutes. TFCII is at 827.6.

The Whitecaps deux come in at 592 minutes per game. That’s an average of just over six players getting 90 minutes each. Remember that the CSA mandate is six out of 11 starters be Canadian. So, the cynic would note that, in terms of Canadian standards and minutes played, the Caps are doing just a little more than the bare minimum — even though they put three players into the top four when it comes to minutes played.

The defensive issues that plagued FC Edmonton throughout the NASL spring season returned for the team’s first fall-season game at Clarke Field.

A series of defensive mistakes gifted the visiting Atlanta Silverbacks a 3-1 win. The Eddies, who had been undefeated in the fall season through three road games and a “home” match in Fort McMurray, were victimized throughout the second half, with defenders getting caught out of position and/or being too casual on the ball.

“The defending was a calamity,” said FCE coach Colin Miller after the match. “We didn’t give ourselves a chance.”

The big winner on the day was the Ottawa Fury, who got a last-gasp goal from Carl Haworth to beat the Carolina RailHawks, 2-1. The Fury now enjoy a five-point cushion on second-place FC Edmonton in the NASL fall standings.

After a scoreless first half in front of an announced crowed of 4,232, Atlanta stunned the fans early in the second. Pedro Mendes barged into the box and managed to barge the much larger Mallan Roberts out of his way. After beating the FCE defender one-on-one, his shot beat keeper Matt Van Oekel at the near post. The shot came off the frame, but ricocheted right into the path of Atlanta forward Jaime Chavez, who was alone in front of goal and enjoyed what has to be easiest finish of his career.Read the rest of this entry »

It’s easy to forget that Canadian centre back Kadeisha Buchanan is months away from her 20th birthday. She’s was named the top young player at the Women’s World Cup, and her name is an automatic to appear in the Canadian starting XI.

But, in Friday night’s Pan Am Games bronze-medal match, we were reminded that she still has a lot to learn.

We were reminded that, despite all of her talent, she’s been rushed into a national team that has very little depth on the back line. In Canada’s 2-1 loss to Mexico, Buchanan endured maybe the worst half she’s played, like, ever, for Canada.

She was taken out of the game at halftime. It could have been an injury, could have been tactical. The reasons weren’t given. But, let’s be clear — if the reason was strictly based on performance, she earned her spot on the bench. Her first half was a reminder that no player can get by on talent alone. It was a lesson that speed and strength can only get you so far — a defender also has to make the right choices.

Early in the match, keeper Stephanie Labbe bailed her out. She was defending a two-on-two break with fellow defender Rebecca Quinn. But, for some reason, Buchanan decided to leave her mark, Mexican striker Monica Ocampo. Buchanan was overly aggressive, and got caught in-between when she decided to try and step up to help out Quinn rather than stay at home. Of course, the ball went to Ocampo, now left wide open in the box, and Labbe did well to make the save.Read the rest of this entry »

His team is undefeated in the NASL fall season despite yet setting foot in Clarke Field, their home stadium. The Eddies have won one “home” game in Fort McMurray and got a win and two draws on the road. This Sunday’s match against Atlanta will mark FCE’s first true home game of the fall season.

As well, the Eddies are getting players back to health. Tomi Ameobi, the team’s top-scoring striker, hasn’t played since the spring season, but trained Thursday morning. Ritchie Jones, who’s been out with an ankle problem, is training. Youngster Hanson Boakai is back from the Pan Am Games. Striker Daryl Fordyce was on the pitch.

The Eddies got off to the four-game undefeated streak with basically a skeleton squad. Now, Miller looks to only be missing two players — albeit key players — for Sunday’s match. Lance Laing will be in Jamaican colours for Sunday’s Gold Cup final, and winger Sainey Nyassi continues to recover from a hairline fracture in his ankle.

Jones said that the team’s recent strong performances don’t make it a sure thing that he’ll get minutes now that he’s moved out of the MASH unit and back into the squad.

“It’s been great for the squad; I’ve been involved in so many squads in the past and it’s great to have competition for places. The boys have done so well on the road. It’s great to see and it’s started us off in good stead for the start of the [fall] season.”Read the rest of this entry »

The NASL has ended its relationship with TSN and is taking its Canadian streaming services in-house.

The league will announce Thursday that all FC Edmonton and Ottawa Fury road games will be streamed on the teams’ respective websites. For Ottawa, this is just a confirmation of a practice that was already in place — but, it’s new for Eddies’ supporters.

As well, games involving two American-based NASL teams will be made available to Canadian viewers through the league’s official website, NASL.com. That service launches this weekend These games will be geoblocked, so only users with Canadian IP addresses can access them.

There is one exception: New York Cosmos home games belong to OneWorld Sports, and exist outside this streaming package.

This will be welcome news to Canadian NASL fans, who have suffered through a broadcast arrangement that has been frustrating, to say the least. At the start of the season, the league announced that all FC Edmonton and Ottawa Fury road games would be streamed via TSN GO. But, viewers were continually frustrated when they’d go to the TSN site to find the games, and then find that they weren’t being offered, after all.Read the rest of this entry »

We’ve uncovered a disturbing shot from one of coach Benito Floro’s team talks at the recent Gold Cup.

There’s an answer here to why Canada didn’t score at the tournament: Clearly, McDoogle was played out of position. When McDoogle is on the left, he doesn’t link up well with McDoogle in the middle. As well, Floro should not have left McDoogle, with all of his MLS experience, on the bench in favour of the younger, untested, McDoogle.

But the Ottawa Fury and FC Edmonton are off to red-hot starts in the NASL fall season. The Eddies are on top of the fall-season table. The Fury has moved into a post-season spot in the overall standings and is just a point behind the Eddies in the fall table.

But, you can’t win with Canadians!

The Eddies and Fury are the runaway leaders out of North Americans first- and second-division leagues when it comes to giving minutes to Canadians.

Didn’t you hear us? YOU CAN’T WIN WITH CANADIANS!

The Eddies have the No. 1 offence in NASL. The Fury are tied with the New York Cosmos in terms of the stingiest goals-against record.

Seriously, you can’t win with Canadians! Don’t you know anything about clichés?

This is what happens when Canadians are allowed to play. The sky doesn’t fall. The team doesn’t go winless. If you don’t ever present challenges for your Canadian players, how can they ever rise to them?

I get it, I get it. A lot of you are thinking “but that’s NASL, not MLS. It’s a lot different when you go up a division.” Fair. But I guess we’ll never be able to judge MLS until we see either TFC, the Impact or the Whitecaps giving the kind of first-team minutes to Canadian talent like the Eddies and Fury do. Whitecaps President Bob Lenarduzzi pledges that his club can get there in a decade. We will all have to mark 2025 on our calendars.

Until then, the Fury and Eddies deserve your support. Guilt free. Unless, of course, you’re still convinced you can’t win with Canadians. In that case, 1995 called — it wants its preconceived notions back.Read the rest of this entry »

FC Edmonton is through the toughest road trip of their season; a three-games-in-seven days jaunt that took the club out to Florida, back to Texas and then back to Florida.

After beating the owners of the NASL’s best overall record, the Tampa Bay Rowdies, 1-0 on Saturday, the Eddies finished the trip with five out of a possible nine points. They did it with more than half of their regular starters missing. And, four games into the second NASL season, the Eddies are at the top of the fall table.

And, in the overall standings, the Eddies are now just one point out of fourth spot, which represents the final post-season slot. The Indy Eleven plays Ottawa Sunday, so that might change. But, really, you can argue that, with this undefeated start to the fall season (2-0-2, including the 4-0 win over the San Antonio Scorpions in Fort McMurray), the Eddies have pretty well erased any deficits they inherited from a disappointing spring season.

FC Edmonton did enough to win its first road game of the NASL season. Despite fielding a skeleton crew thanks to an injury crisis, the Eddies were still able to create scoring chances and got goals from Michael Nonni and Cristian Raudales.

But, the X factor in the game was Billy Forbes. On a night when his team didn’t defend well and gave the ball away too easily in midfield, the San Antonio Scorpions’ winger was a one-man dynamo, creating two goals and causing problems for the Eddies all night long.

In the end, a 2-2 result on the road has got to be seen as a valuable point for FCE. That point could come in handy come November. But, make no mistake, Wednesday’s match could be the best road game the Eddies have played all season.

The Eddies remain undefeated in the fall campaign, with five points from three games. But, starting the season with three road games (the Tampa date is still to come) after a “home” opener in Fort McMurray, the Eddies knew that July was going to be a challenging month. Injuries or call-ups that have kept seven regulars out of the lineup have made it worse. Really, a win and two draws is pretty darn good considering the nightmare injury scenario coach Colin Miller has to deal with.

If the Eddies can get something out of this weekend’s road date in Tampa — well, the silk purse will have been made out of the sow’s ear.Read the rest of this entry »